Introduction: With
the introduction of the Vengeance and Vendetta, we kind of knew where Abu Garcia
was going with their rods and the strategy makes sense. Anglers today are looking for that
one rod with appeal and performance, and at the same time it has to be at the
correct price range. Already seen on our TackleTour Forum, Abu Garcia will soon
be revealing a new affordable rod named Veritas. This new bass rod will be one
notch higher than the Vendetta but still have a great price of under $100. Let's
see what this new "next generation" rod is all about.

Introducing
the new 2010 Abu Garcia Veritas

The Concept: Before
getting into the fine details of the rod itself, we spoke to Jim Coble, Product
Manager at Pure Fishing who was the head designer of the Veritas bass rod. He
stated that with this rod, they, meaning the team at Abu Garcia, was simply
trying to give consumers an honest product without all the marketing hype, and
big margins. In his own words, "We're not looking to cheat anyone of their
money." The name and color has its own story too. The word "Veritas" stands for
truth in Latin, hence the color of white as in purity, or honesty as mentioned
earlier on why Abu Garcia decided to make this rod for anglers. If any other
manufacturer made this rod, it would have sold for a lot more.

Designed for the next generation

The Design: This
rod is not yet complete. In fact, what you've seen out there thus far including
the photos in this preview are of a rod at its developing stages. This prototype
is under constant refinement with the complete design scheduled to debut this
July at ICAST. Michael Iaconelli will be fishing this rod at the Bassmaster
Classic tournament coming in a couple of weeks. Most will wonder what rod he is
fishing with, but after this inside scoop, now you will know.

Abu Garcia is working with a new components
manufacturer named Evolve to source parts for the Veritas

The Veritas rod is
constructed out of 30 Ton graphite with Nanotechnology infused resin. With this
combination Abu Garcia was able to reduce weight and increase compression
strength by just over 20% compared to say standard graphite.

Nanotechnology is being used on this $100 rod
which reduces its overall weight and increases compression strength by just over
20%

Component wise Abu Garcia
is working with a new company called Evolve which will produce parts to their
specification. The guides on this prototype rod are the first thing that will be
changed. It will be a much lower profile frame than now but will still be
Titanium Alloy with thin SiC inserts. The reel seat is actually 100% proprietary
to Abu Garcia and is an in-house design and tooling. The reel seat locking
mechanism is made of aluminum and made to match the rod nicely. The trigger is
minimal so an angler gets maximum contact to the rod blank when fishing for
greater sensitivity.

A view of the aluminum butt cap

Abu Garcia did not pick
the color white out of a hat. They looked at the history of rod colors and the
two most common classic colors were black and white. And as mentioned earlier
the name Veritas, truth, purity, and white all go together. BMW owners might
appreciate this as the white isn't just any white. This is actually the same BMW
car paint color called Alpine White III (color code 300). If you look at the
overall rod and it's color scheme, it's very attractive compared to say the
unnamed white rods with clear guide wraps. The black wraps on the guides on the
Veritas along with the unique handle and graphics put on the blank all give it a
nice appeal.

Split rear grip and dense EVA foam further
reduces the rod's weight

The final production rod
will be much lighter than the prototype and will be adjusted so the balance
point is right at your hands. To reduce weight the rod does use a dense EVA foam
on the split rear handle.

The guides shown will not be on the
production rod as the final will have lower profile guide frames

The Veritas rods will have
a total of 13 models - 8 casting and 5 spinning and all will retail for a very
aggressive $99.95.

Double anodized aluminum lock nut and a reel
seat design that provides maximum exposure to the blank for greater sensitivity

Conclusion: The
Veritas, again is at its pre-production stages. Fine tuning is underway to
refine the guides, reduce weight, improve graphics, and adjust balance points.
Further, you can be sure Iaconelli will be providing his feedback on these rods
after the 2010 Bassmaster Classic. The prototype rods are already pretty sweet
in terms of design and price point. We can't wait to catch a few bass on this
new prototype rod to see how it actually fishes, and also to see the final
production rod that will be introduced at ICAST this summer and available in
stores September 1, 2010 - just in time to squeeze into our "Search For One"
roundup.